Gelbu Special....WOW

firkin

firkin

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
Messages
2,737
Received 18" Gelbu Special by Kesar yesterday. Shipped Fri, arrives Wed.--not bad.
Pala is nuts giving these away this cheap!

Daym, same weight (22 oz) as my 15" AK but somehow feels much lighter in the hand, almost lively. Like it could turn around and take a nip at you. Even though handle is made of presumably lighter wood. And the wood will be beautiful once that red goop is off. Karda and chakma were OK, a little rough near the handles, but cleaned up pretty well. May stone the flats if really bored. I have sanded the handles down to begin to "Walosify" them before I tackle the big handle. One has very nice almost gold wood with dark bands, the other is kinda a pale brick red color with less contrast, but with the oil, looks more golden-colored already. I can't wait to get the khuk handle sanded down.

The khuk is very well executed, one side of the blade is perfect, the other has the tiniest fold in the tip of tip of the fuller, and a ripple there where Kesar probably tried to pound it all the way out. Otherwise it's beautifully smooth. The cho's a little wonky, but a jeweler's file will fix that right up. Not surprised at this with the closed type. Polish was fantastic, I almost didn't want to finish sharpening the pretty good edge. (It had an even burr all the way down one side!) I managed to get a decent, but not quite equal polish back by hand, finishing with green honing compound on fine carborundum paper. Seems to cut pretty fast but leave a decent polish behind. Some old shop vet will probably tell me that I'n nuts, or that this trick is old as the hills and twice as dusty. And then tell me how to do it right.

The butt cap and the smaller piece the tang goes through are perfect and the bolster has a nearly undetectable seam, save for a couple of tiny,tiny dimples. Darn near jewlelery-quality soldering.

The even fuller and uniform decrease in blade thickness to the thin bevel from the thick spine is really most impressive. Just a few chops on the hardwood log so far, and its awesome. I can see why this pattern is a favorite.

Quite the bargain, overall detail and finish on the khuk is a notch or two above my AK for sure.
The scabbard looks like it had an encounter with an angry chappe, but that and the inconseqential, now removed, rust spot sure don't bother me when I pick up the knife.

Oh, and the small tool loops had some leather glued over the tack heads so handles don't get scratched--a nice touch.

The wood handle seems quite a bit more round in cross-section than the horn one on my AK--typical, or just normal variation???
 
Firkin - The handle on my GS is round - doesn't go oval until you get between the ring and the buttcap, so it apparently goes with the style. It was patterned after a village blade from Udhaipur (sp?) according to the FAQ, and they follow these details closely. The thing is as much a weapon as the Malla, but faster/more agile. Pala said it would be his choice as a weapon, and the reason is clear. Kesar has a knack for nice wood. It should finish our very nicely....if you can let go of the handle long enough :D Most of my blades have come with a "wire" edge. On the choppers, I finish it off and go back to the convex edge with a fine hand stone. On those who tell me they would rather slice, or do some of both, I straighten the wire with the chakma, and then strop it, on Bro's stropping block. My GS may be too sharp to go back in the sheath :eek: It is the only shaver in the lot.
 
Walosi,

Thanks for the great information. I hadn't seen before that the handle-shape posessed subtle stylistic details in addition to the obvious and not so obvious details of the blades. I am excited about the wood in the handle.

The weapon potential is obvious as soon as it's unsheathed. When I first got it I stuffed it back in and put some shoes on my bare feet before messing about with it further! The 18 oz one that went up a couple days ago must be really something.

I took the wire off with my mousepad-sandpaper method and stropped it with green honing compound. It was a bit of a scary process....I got a little twinge when it sliced newspaper. Its just as sharp after a little hardwood chopping. This thing screams pay attention just as loud as a chainsaw with properly honed chisel-bit chain.
 
Firkin: I recently received a 18" GS by Bura, and echo your sentiments about this style. Fit and finish: Awesome! My GS handle is round between the bolster and rings as well. I really like the handle style cuz mine is 1/4 longer than any other handle in my bunch. It has a wonderful neutral feel kinda like a flat faced trigger on a 1911. I can get some serious velocity in the swing, too. That pleasant slicing noise.
I feel I need steel toes when I'm monkeying around with it.

My Gs is 17(!) oz. and I've named it Fang. This is because it bit me on it's first trip out of the scabbard. Nice round patch off the end of my right thumb. Ya gotta be tough when you're stupid! In my own defense, It is the sharpest khuk, right out of the box, that the wonderful Nepali shipping staff has sent.

The Malla might say weapon loudest of the bunch, but IMHO the GS hisses it! It says to me that it could be back in the scabbard before you could see "red". Quick and Nimble. I think mine may need a twin!:D

-Craig

P.S. Wal-- Beautiful Wood. Working on second coat. I love the smell of Tru-Oil in the evening.........Smells like...... a woodchuck. Hey....Wait a minute, that don't sound to good, does it?:eek: :barf: :D
 
Etymologist Alert: definition needed, Beoram!

Walosify:verb, as in "to Walosify"... ( also see Walosification )_________
 
Craig,

I don,t know who it was, or when, but the guy who first said: "Son, put yore shoes on 'fore you chop wood" knew what he was talking about.;) And I know more than one person who got messed up pretty good dropping a knife on his foot in the kitchen or just messin' around. When I pulled this thing out of the scabbard....well you know.
 
WA-LO-SI-FY(wa-'lo-sI-fai) (transitive verb), Woodworking (obscure) 1. to bring out or make apparent an underlying pattern, esp. used of the grain of wood. 2. to spend a long time at any wood-working project. (See also Walosification) [etym.(obsc.) apparently derives from the proper name of a species of wood-working frog].
 
Thanks Beo:

The teasing and whimsy is a large part of why this forum has meaning to me. As well as the bonds of friendship and brotherhood.

It reminds me of the teenage years when I/we would spend hours on the phone because it was safer to "float" opinions that way.

Uncle and some of the older timers ( but yeah, even me included ) need to be recognised for their honesty and openness in setting the tone of this forum. I sometimes wonder if he realizes how much good karma has come from this forum.
 
Amen to that, Rusty.

Uncle Bill, when the post office has shredded your packages and overseas shipments from BirGhorka are lost in space and you're fed up with the whole business, remember what Rusty just said. This is a special place, and you've made it that way.
 
...I always thought "Walosification", referred to the dry, cracked buildup of Tung/Tru oil on a woodchuck's paws, and the resulting crusty attitude. Walosi are tree frog...you couldn't expect them to be ...well...stonemasons :rolleyes:
 
Didn't I read somewhere about a frog (not a Walosi, I don't think) that somehow got built into a wall and lived in the hollow of a building stone for 30 or 40 years and came out alive when they tore the building down. And then promptly died!!!!

Gives me the willies to think about that solitary confinement for 40 years.
 
IIRc, that was a toad. There was another found alive inside a "stone" of dried mud (in China, I believe), that was estimated at over 100. Still......with a laptop, a trickle of water and a few bugs now and then.......NAHHHHH :barf:
 
Originally posted by Walosi
...I always thought "Walosification", referred to the dry, cracked buildup of Tung/Tru oil on a woodchuck's paws, and the resulting crusty attitude. Walosi are tree frog...you couldn't expect them to be ...well...stonemasons :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

:) :)

are walosi(s) a particular type of frog? I thought it was just the Cherokee word for 'frog'.

B.
 
OK, OK, Walosi is "frog" - Usti Da-li is tree frog. My sig frog couldn't exist at ground level, so he chose trees. He is also part woodchuck, but we don't talk about that much, since it involved Gran'ma falling out of the tree years ago and.....never mind...:(
 
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